YouTube Red expanding to cover 100 countries

YouTube Red will expand to offer its subscription service in as many as 100 countries, YouTube chief executive officer Susan Wojcicki has said at Recode’s Code Media conference.

However, Google said it could not comment on whether South Africa will be included in the expansion plan.

The YouTube Red subscription service is available for $9.99 per month in five countries, and offers ad-free viewing and access to original content exclusive to the platform.

It also includes a subscription to Google Play Music, the ability to play videos in the background on your phone, and allows you to download videos for offline viewing.

While Google has launched YouTube Offline across the African continent, including South Africa, music videos are specifically excluded from YouTube offline.

YouTube said that it splits the subscription revenue for Red with rights-holders and content creators.

YouTube Red is currently available in Australia, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, and the United States.

If you subscribe from one of the supported countries and travel outside it, you won’t be able to download videos, background playback will be disabled, and you will see ads. Any videos that you’ve downloaded before leaving the country will be available offline for 30 days after leaving.

YouTube Red members can continue to watch YouTube Red Original movies and series while traveling outside the supported countries.